


Remembering Him

by tigereyes45



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Father Figures, Fluff and Angst, Nostalgia, Plo Koon was a father figure for both of them, Post-Order 66, Reminiscing, fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: Ahsoka and Wolffe end up in rather awkward company of each other inside an engine room of the ship. They were both looking for a place to quiet remember the fallen Jedi Master on his birthday. Perhaps they can enjoy it together instead.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & CC-3636 | Wolffe, Plo Koon & Ahsoka Tano, Plo Koon & CC-3636 | Wolffe
Comments: 5
Kudos: 123





	Remembering Him

**Author's Note:**

> Held a poll on tumblr and this story was actually supposed to be the second one I finished, but I got it done first. Oh well. The winner will be up soon.

Ahsoka sits quietly on the metal ledge above the ship’s core. The mechanic heart thrums with a constant bm-bump. A familiar pattern that connects it deeply to every living being on the ship. One problem, something even as simple as a little delay in that thumping would cause a series of problems for everyone else. Yet that is probably the only time anyone else ever even considers the engine. When there’s a problem, domino-ing through the rest of the ship.

“Oh you’re here.”

Ahsoka cracks her neck. Rubbing it, she looks over at the former commander. Wolffe stood still, staring at the ground. Was she really so deep in thought that she hadn’t even noticed his presence? He must’ve been heading straight for the engine.

“I-i-,” coughing, Wolffe covers his mouth shyly with a fist. His other arm was rigid at his side. He stands at attention as if they were back with the Jedi. “Sorry sir. I’ll take my leave.”

“No.” She hadn’t wanted to be alone, to begin with, but no one else knew him. No one but Rex who had barely ever spoken with Plo Koon, and Wolffe who would barely even look at her, let alone speak. “I’m sure you’ve come down here for the same reason I have.”

Sheepishly Wolffe risks a glance at her. His eyes dart back towards the engine just as fast as they had looked over. “Aye.”

Ahsoka raises her hand. Focusing briefly she grabs the metal stool from the other side of the engine room. With a whisk of her arms she brings it flying across the room, stopping just short of his legs. It drops into place with a, shing sound barely audible over the reliable engine. He flinches at her use of the force. Tilting his head a little, Wolffe stops one of his hands from reaching for his scar. Casually, watching carefully, she offers him the seat.

“I thought you would be more comfortable with a seat of your own.” This was the most the former commander had spoken to her since their reunion. They were nowhere close to being within each other’s personal spaces in any capacity. Not that she could ever recall Wolffe being comfortable with many people in his personal space. The only time she had ever manage to get so much as a hug from him was when Plo Koon had taken her to first visit the clones. It was under the guise of getting the padawans used to being around the clones their Jedi masters would be working closely with, but it was really just a chance to give her time away from the others.

“You were right.” Reluctantly he does sit down. With his back against the wall, Wolffe sits with the composure of a soldier. His legs were at attention, ready to get up and run off should the moment arise. While his arms were everywhere but calmly in his lap. They move from rubbing the sides of his legs to his elbows digging into his knees, and finally folded neatly across his upper chest. Just like how Plo Koon used to sit. There was so much of the old Jedi master in him, just like there was in her.

“So,”

“I thought I was the only one who knew his birthday.” Wolffe blurts out before she could finish.

“He wasn’t one to really share. I dug around in the old library files until I found some of his as a padawan.” For a brief moment, Wolffe actually laughs. How long had it been since she last heard that laugh?

In an instant she felt her mind travel back to a battlefield she had otherwise forgotten. There had been so many, and they were utterly forgettable for the most part. But the sweet moments between them, those were priceless memories she refused to leave behind in the shadows of those dark times. When she was a teenager there had been an especially gentle moment. A time where she was out with Plo Koon. Reconnaissance was the name of the game. One they played so long hunting down the bounty hunters. Most of their travel had been through dark, damp places of the underground world she later would make her home for a short amount of time.

Instead of the metal walls with their artificial lights surrounding her, she was back at their campsite. The meeting location after all the games of daggers they had to play. In a cave, on a planet she can’t quite remember the name of they had been there. Wolffe squadron preparing for another fight in the morning. Herself sitting cross-legged in front of the fire. She had grown so used to the hustle and bustle of it all back then. Safe. It all felt safe despite the fact that people were dying a few miles away in a distant field.

Wolffe had felt safe back then too. Safe enough that when had started his usual antics, one of his jokes had actually gotten a laugh from Wolffe. It was casual, and laid back in a way she never saw him again. The fierce Wolfpack leader could actually smile, and relax. It had surprised her back then, despite her having known Fives and other clones who were able to let down all their guards the moment they were away from a field. Of course they were able to raise them again just as fast. Ready, and willing to combat the separatists.

Wolffe just hadn’t ever struck her as the time to laugh like that.

“What are you thinking about?”

“That time when we were camping in a cave once and Master Plo Koon made the meal.”

“I remember that. Comet offered to make it, and I reminded him we had food bars left but,”

“He insisted.”

“A habit of his.”

Ahsoka regards him with a nostalgic lens. Yes things had changed but this was still a man who cherishes what they both had lost.

“Do you know what I’m thinking? Some, uh some Jedi could do that. Could look into our minds. Can’t remember if you were one of them.” He fidgets on his stool. His arms partially unlock, before he recrosses them with double the effort.

“No.” She doesn’t bother to remind him that she’s not a Jedi. That she had never been a Jedi. It was a moot point by now. It didn’t change the way he regarded her, or how much distance he had put up.

“I,” Wolffe takes a gulp of the air as if it was his last taste of water. “I miss him. General Plo Koon that is. As if it’s not obvious.” His hand moves to touch his scar again, but with a flinch it’s once again pulled down. “I miss him, but even with the blasted thing gone I can still feel it in there. Arguing my every thought, trying to push away any sentiment towards him. He was a Jedi. He betrayed me. He betrayed our men, and even though I know that ain’t the truth, knowing isn’t enough. It doesn’t silence the thoughts, the arguing, the fear. He deserves to be remembered though. He, he was kinder than most to his men. We were lucky, and we fought fiercely for him. But that chip, what it did, how it made me feel for crying tears as we gunned him down in his ship. I can’t just get over it sir. I can’t just remember him, because it’s there. It’s always going to be there now.”

“Wolffe, I understand. The chips, the thoughts, they can’t be easy to live with, even after removal.” She couldn’t empathize with him. Never had she known something so twisted as to taint all her thoughts and control the rest. The dark side could possess such power but even at her lowest point she had never fully given in.

“It feels worst then it had when we hunted you down and found you with Ventress.”

Ahsoka bites her bottom lip. They had never talked about that. That moment had effectively been the last time the two saw each other before the war ended. Of all people that could have found her it had been him, when she was with the woman who had taken his eye. Of all their moments, that had been the lowest. Plo Koon wouldn’t have been proud of either of them in that moment if he had seen it.

“We don’t have to talk about that.”

“No. No we don’t.” Bitterness floats to the surface of his words like moss on a pond. Natural, and deserving.

“Do you have any spirits?”

“Spirits?” Befuddled he frowns at her. Though he really doesn’t look at her in any other light nowadays. Confusion, anger, fear, all of it culminated in mistrust.

“I’ve got a bottle in my temporary room. Some from Coruscant Rex had given me a few years ago.”

“You have a bottle of Coruscant brandy?”

“Yeah.” Ahsoka stands. Stretching her arms out like she was a padawan again she watches the clone struggle on his decision. “We can open it in celebration. After all, it’s not every year that the two people closest to being Master Plo Koon’s students are together on his birthday.”

“Yeah. Yeah a drink sounds nice.” His old bones creak as he stands. Ahsoka doesn’t bother to add her fear that this may be the last year they would be together on Plo Koon’s birthday. He hadn’t needed any more convincing in the end. Besides she was just as likely to die on her search for Ezra as he was of old age. As the two walk out of the engine room together, they keep a good foot of distance between them a chill crawls down Ahsoka’s back. Perhaps, somewhere in the force, Plo Koon was watching. What would he think of them?


End file.
